In the honor of Rabbi Ron Aigen Tevel is naming the “Big House” where volunteers are trained and celebrate Shabbat and holidays in Nepal, after Rabbi Ron.

Rabbi Ron Aigen was a a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and was a spiritual leader of Congregation Dorshei Emet of Montreal since 1976. He was interested in the areas of spirituality, ethics, and culture. You can read some of Rabbi Aigen’s Torah on his blog.

In 2014, Tevel was fortunate to have Rabbi Ron and Carmela Aigen volunteer with us in Nepal for an extended period during their sabbatical. One of the reasons the Aigen’s chose Tevel is because they wanted to express their love for Israel along with a desire to expand Israel’s positive contribution to the world.

Rabbi Ron taught our volunteers, inspiring them with his particular Jewish world-view, which combined spiritual search with a passion for social justice, and a devotion to Israel. Carmela shared her extensive of early childhood education with our day care staff in the Kalimati slums.

Rabbi Ron and Carmela Aigen in Nepal

Carmela teaching early childhood development at the Daycare center in Kathmandu

Together, Rabbi Ron and Carmela traveled to the remote villages of our main project areas, where Tevel’s intervention helps transform impoverished villages by tripling agricultural yield and helping to grow vital community institutions and leaderships.

Those of you who knew Rabbi Ron know what we lost when he passed away suddenly, at the young age of 68, nearly two years ago.

Carmela has honored us by giving us the opportunity to honor Rabbi Ron’s memory through the Rabbi Ron Aigen Memorial Fund. The Fund will be used to finance vital projects in rural villages where Tevel is transforming poverty at its roots, enabling villagers to stay in their homes rather than being forced to migrate to slums or to work in dangerous factories.

You can also read more in Gil Troy’s column in the Canadian Jewish Week about the Rabbi Ron Aigen Memorial Fund.

Rabbi Ron Aigen also published a Haggadah “”Wellsprings of Freedom”–The Renew Our Days Haggada. Click here for the full Haggadah.

We would like to give the opportunity to those of you who knew Rabbi Ron, and resonate with his kind of Judaism, to contribute to this memorial from your Temple’s Tzedaka fund. Since a major part of Tevel’s work is helping farmers grow enough food to feed their families, the Passover season, when “maos chittim”–emergency food aid—is traditionally given, is a great time and appropriate time to donate to this fund.